Historian Peter Selz has compared Gottfried Helnwein's tortured, screaming, and bandaged self-portraits to Messerschmidt's sculptural self-portraits, but the artist has said, " The reason why I took up the subject of self-portraits and why I have put myself on stage was to function as a kind of representative for the suffering, abused and oppressed human being. I needed a living body to demonstrate and exemplify the effect of violence inflicted upon a defenseless victim. There is nothing autobiographical or therapeutical about it, and I don’t think it says anything about me personally.

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Black Mirror, Self-Portrait

polaroid, 1987, 70 x 52 cm / 27 x 20''

" The reason why I took up the subject of self-portraits and why I have
put myself on stage was to function as a kind of representative for the
suffering, abused and oppressed human being. I needed a living body to
demonstrate and exemplify the effect of violence inflicted upon a
defenseless victim. There is nothing autobiographical or therapeutical
about it, and I don’t think it says anything about me personally. Also I
was the best possible model for my experiments: endlessly patient and
always available."